I know people have A LOT of questions about the CPTE and I hope this thread can help answer those questions. I'm certainly not done with the videos but I would like to give information on the course while I go through it and I would also like for anyone else who's taking this course to pitch-in as well. Once I'm completely done with the course and exam, I'll do a complete review..but until then, I think this thread can definitely answer some questions people may have.

Just to give some personal information: - I have no security or pentesting background- 3 months of IT experience- My linux skills are above average- Networking skills: decent- Programming: I know a little BASH but that's about it (I need to improve in this area)

I just started module 3: Info Gathering, and so far it's pretty interesting. They had a couple video's about physical security and now I feel like buying some bump key's and padlock shimmer to practice with ;D

So I was just going through some other video's and it seems the video's have not been updated since roughly 2008 or 2009. In one of the video's they talk about www.kartOO.com which was a visual search engine but it no longer exist. From their examples, it looked pretty cool..I wish it was still around....

Last edited by YuckTheFankees on Fri Dec 02, 2011 4:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

As the modules went on, I became bored of the material. A lot of it had to do with the material being so old. For example: They like to show certain websites and how to use them, but about half of them are no longer up or are completely different...so that's really annoying.

I stopped looking at the videos about a week ago and I probably wont look at them again.....if they would of given us the study booklets as well, it might be a different story...but they didnt...so I would say save your money and time...just stick with CEH and OSCP.

Sorry to hear YuckTheFankees. I wonder how the other members who picked out the alternate courses are doing - and if they share the same opinion. If they're that much out of date on the CPTE, it makes you wonder if all of their material isn't up-to-date either.

I have access to the CPTE, CDFE, and CSWAE videos. All 3 are about 2-4 years old. I have spoken with Ray (their president of sales, I think?) and he said the CSWAE is getting updated FEB of next year, but they have no plans of updating the other material at this time.

My opinion:

CDFE (computer forensics): Since I'm new to the field most of the video's are interesting but the quality is probably a 4 out of 10. Some videos you can hear perfectly, some are so low I need to get headphones so the sound is directly in my ear.

CSWAE (web app pentest): The video's are actually from some sort of online class they held probably a couple years ago. The sound is a little pretty rough, it's probably due to the online class environment. Also, every now and again he will ask for feedback from the class..and they never response back besides a "yeah" or some strange noise that sounds like no? lol

So take my review with a grain of salt, but they definitely aren't quality videos. Ray said it was just to expensive to keep the classes updated....so he pretty much said it himself.

That answered my main question right there. Didn't know the material that old. It all makes sense now when I had e-mailed Mile2 and pretty much asked if CPTE will fully prepare someone to the extent of being able to buy a CEH exam voucher and didn't receive a definitive, 'Yes' in the e-mail response.

Good to hear they're updating CSWAE course Feb. My vote for a solid Web App Pentesting course would be eLS all the way. Definitely more affordable and quality information.

Not sure how much longer they'll be around with outdated material. There's tons of training options out there today and no one wants to spend money on old course work. How is the lab environment? I heard that there was a practical environment for students to test their skills in, is this true?

Thanks for the info Yuck. I too am finding the out-dated material to be a bit of a hinderance on this course. I am finding my interest gets pulled elsewhere. Though not even the CEH is fully updated. I may finish this coursework out just because it is free and the feedback may help improve the program but if I will not work overly hard toward the cert. I may shoot for CEH for some recognitition and then shoot for OSCP for skills. I will not weigh this course much compared to the others.

I cannot talk for the video, but last month I bought the CPTE, the manual is not great but with the lab you get some exercise (they will not provide the ISO) you can have a lot of fun, last week I've been trying to crack passwords using John the Ripper and worked pritty good.

Other labs give you some ideas and you try and will not work and you will try again until it works. I am the module 5

I started the CTPE videos as well. Maybe the manual and lab guides would've made it a better experience. But I'd look at other sources for training if I were going to pay out of my own pocket. Mile2 if you're taking notes here: *Update course materials

A brief observation of the videos indicates to me that the information is about the same as what I learned in CEHv5. That being said, in most of the demonstrations, he's also using BackTrack 3, which may also say something about the age of the content.

The videos aren't wholly bad from what I've seen, just minor inconsistencies, like the volume level seems to change from one video to the next. In some modules, every section is numbered. Others are not. Some sections don't even have names, they'll be titled something like "Untitled-1". I guess they don't have very good quality control?

Has anyone taken the exam, yet? Any ideas how long before the certification expires?

eth3real wrote:Has anyone taken the exam, yet? Any ideas how long before the certification expires?

I took the exam. I haven't taken the CEH or anything else to compare it against though. It was definitely tougher than I thought it would be and the training doesn't really prepare you for it. I would say that both can be beneficial though, depending on your experience. That said, a lot of the previous posts about the materials are pretty accurate. The way I understand it, you need to renew your certification every time a new version of the exam is released. It sounded like they shoot for every three years or so but I'm not sure.